Special Topics in Calamity Physics

This is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age novel and a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer. After a childhood spent moving from one academic outpost to another with her father, Blue is clever and possessed of a vast lexicon of knowledge. But when a drowning and the shocking death of a teacher lead to a confluence of mysteries, Blue is left to make sense of it all with only her gimlet-eyed instincts and cultural references to guide - or misguide - her.

Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel

Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory

Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty - a 20-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre - took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. With an original voice that combines fearless curiosity and mordant wit, Caitlin tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters, gallows humor, and vivid characters (both living and very dead).

A Head Full of Ghosts

The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when 14-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia. To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie's descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession.

The Girl Before

Clara Lawson is torn from her life in an instant. Without warning, her home is invaded by armed men, and she finds herself separated from her beloved husband and daughters. The last thing her husband yells to her is to say nothing. In chapters that alternate between past and present, the novel slowly unpeels the layers of Clara's fractured life. We see her growing up, raised with her sisters by the stern Mama and Papa G, becoming a poised and educated young woman, falling desperately in love with the forbidden son of her adoptive parents.

American Elsewhere

Some places are too good to be true. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different....

In the Woods

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children, unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a 12-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery.

Broken Monsters

Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit's standards: half boy, half deer, somehow fused together. As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams? If you're Detective Versado's geeky teenage daughter, Layla, you commence a dangerous flirtation with a potential predator online. If you're desperate freelance journalist Jonno, you do whatever it takes to get the exclusive on a horrific story.

The Trespasser: A Novel

Being on the murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point. Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner.

Heart-Shaped Box

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, a thing so terrible-strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet. For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost. It's the real thing.

The Woman in Cabin 10

Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first Lo's stay is nothing but pleasant: The cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, and gray skies fall.

The Fireman: A Novel

No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it's Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies - before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.

The Girl with All the Gifts

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her "our little genius". Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

The Elementals

After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait.

Behind Closed Doors

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He's a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You're hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You’d like to get to know Grace better.

In a Dark, Dark Wood

Leonora, known to some as Lee and others as Nora, is a reclusive crime writer, unwilling to leave her nest of an apartment unless it is absolutely necessary. When a friend she hasn't seen or spoken to in years unexpectedly invites Nora (Lee) to a weekend away in an eerie glass house deep in the English countryside, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip.

First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic, an intellectual and artistic benchmark from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman. Now discover the mystery and magic of American Gods in this 10th anniversary edition. Newly updated and expanded with the author's preferred text, this commemorative volume is a true celebration of a modern masterpiece by the one, the only, Neil Gaiman.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

In this deeply scary and intensely unnerving debut novel, Jake and a woman known only as "The Girlfriend" are on a drive to visit his parents at their secluded farm. But when Jake leaves "The Girlfriend" stranded at an abandoned high school, what follows is a twisted unraveling of the darkest unease, an exploration into psychological frailty, and an ending as suspenseful as The Usual Suspects and as haunting as Misery.

Hex

Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a 17th-century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children's beds for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened, or the consequences will be too terrible to bear.

The Shining Girls: A Novel

Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future. Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times. At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of the shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He's the ultimate hunter, vanishing into another time after each murder, untraceable - until one of his victims survives.

The Killer Next Door

Everyone who lives at 23 Beulah Grove has a secret. If they didn't, they wouldn't be renting rooms in a dodgy old building for cash - no credit check, no lease. It's the kind of place you end up when you you've run out of other options.The six residents mostly keep to themselves, but one unbearably hot summer night, a terrible accident pushes them into an uneasy alliance. What they don't know is that one of them is a killer. He's already chosen his next victim, and he'll do anything to protect his secret.

Only Daughter

In 2003, 16-year-old Rebecca Winter disappeared. She'd been enjoying her teenage summer break: working at a fast-food restaurant, crushing on an older boy, and shoplifting with her best friend. Mysteriously ominous things began to happen - blood in the bed, periods of blackouts, a feeling of being watched - though Bec remained oblivious of what was to come.

Dark Matter: A Novel

"Are you happy with your life?" Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend."

Dark Places: A Novel

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas". As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived, and famously testified that her 15-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who've long forgotten her.

Audible Editor Reviews

Editors Select, August 2013 - I don’t often find myself interested in literary psychological thrillers, but the early buzz on Night Film – a dark novel by Marisha Pressl (of Special Topics in Calamity Physics fame) – was enough to pique my interest. It’s been a long time since I’ve read something that’s legitimately creeped me out, and this novel opens with a ghost story that set the tone. I’ve only just started reading the book, and it already feels like something bad is lurking on the every page. Scott McGrath is a shamed journalist who takes a new interest in an old case when his former subject’s daughter turns up dead at the bottom of an abandoned building’s elevator shaft. The book hinges on Scott’s investigation into the victim’s family, particularly her reclusive filmmaking father, who put Scott out of business in the first place. It’s an absolutely chilling page-turner and will be even more frightening in audio. Chris, Audible Editor

Publisher's Summary

Brilliant, haunting, breathtakingly suspenseful, Night Film is a superb literary thriller by the New York Times best-selling author of the "blockbuster debut" (People) Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive, cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova - a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than 30 years.

For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova’s dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself.

Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova’s eerie, hypnotic world.

The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time he might lose even more.

Night Film, the gorgeously written, spellbinding new novel by the dazzlingly inventive Marisha Pessl, will hold you in suspense to the final minute.

Night Film was easily one of the best books I've read; not just for 2013, but ever. It has easily made it's way into my top 10 list of all time great books.

While I read Night Film at the end of August, I find it still haunting me as I write this review. This, for me, is one of the true tests of a great book. I can't quite get it out of my head.

Night Film is narrated by the gifted Jake Weber; currently best know for his role on "The Medium", but also credited with countless other movie and television performances. Mr. Weber plays the role of Scott McGrath flawlessly; and as the story is told in first person narrative, it takes on an especially personal tone as he tells the story. He allows the tale to shine through as it slowly, hauntingly, and sometimes terrifyingly weaves it's way through the mystery that is the apparent suicide of Ashley Cordova (the daughter of the legendary, reclusive, cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova) and the rebirth of McGrath's investigation into the director himself; an investigation that years prior ruined both his career and reputation.

Nothing is as it seems - or is everything exactly the way it seems? Does the truth, perhaps, lie somewhere in the middle? Your view may shift, as mine did, back and forth as I repeatedly had to question every assumption and belief I had formed, over and over again, as new information - sometimes truth, sometimes a lie - is layered into the disturbing file of interviews, experiences, and information we gather with McGrath.

The story makes you feel part of this haunting decent into uncertainty you spiral through. By the end, I was uncomfortable, disturbed, fascinated... and satisfied.

The book comes with countless old photographs, magazine articles, and other clippings from the past that make both the investigation and our belief in the mythology of the background all the more real. If you choose to experience the book via the audio version, please note that when you download the book from your library on Audible.com there is also a supplemental PDF Download link offered directly under the title of the book. This will be especially important for your enjoyment of the first small section of the story as it steps you through a New York Times article regarding Ashley's death, and a Time Magazine Photo Spread of historical photos of the Cordova family.

I hope that if you choose to read this book in any form, you enjoy it even a fraction as much as I did. I can tell you that I gave 4 copies as gifts, and all 4 people loved the book as much as I did. Again, I encourage you to experience the story as only Jake Weber can tell it - but no matter what format you choose, prepare to have the experience stay with you for the foreseeable future.

You will feel detached from reality off and on, and unable to tell what is real and what isn't. This is the brilliance of this writer--to keep you as off balance as the characters in the novel. No matter if you love the story or not, there is no question that Marisha Pessl is a superbly talented writer. I loved it.

The review by Linda does an excellent job of summing up the story without giving anything away. She wrote what I was feeling.

I will look up other works by this author as time goes by, hoping she comes up with another gem like this one. In the meantime, I plan on listening to this one again.

Have you ever watched a film and clung to a pillow like it’s the last life preserver on the Titanic? Eyes blown wide open, skin prickling in terror, instincts screaming ‘run’ but you’re held captive by the depravity playing out before you? Have you ever wondered – as the credits crawl up the screen and you find yourself nauseated at the thought of being alone in a dark room– what kind of person has those horrors locked in his head?

In Marisha Pessl’s Night Film, it is Stanislas Cordova: writer, director and producer of films so violently macabre that audiences must meet in abandoned tunnels to view his banned material. Cordova’s name is synonymous with the blackest corners of humanity but despite the infamy of his work and rabidly devoted fan base, very little is known about the man. His personal life is a black hole. All who collaborate on his films: actors, crew, even family, refuse to speak about their experiences.

Despite ruining his reputation by inquiring into the director's life year's earlier, investigative journalist Scott McGrath cannot uproot an instinct that Cordova’s work reflects a profound and tangible evil. After Cordova’s daughter commits suicide in a crumbling warehouse, McGrath takes up his line of questioning once again determined to bring the truth about the director to the surface.

Pessl’s story, augmented by mock-up articles, websites, and eerie photographs (all accessible on a PDF that comes with the audio version) pulls the reader through a kaleidoscopic nightmare. It’s 23 hours long and even though some twists feel contrived, the writing is excellent and the atmosphere, chilling.

This book is like walking down a rural road at midnight with the unnerving certainty that someone is following you. Just because you can’t see anyone as you glance anxiously over your shoulder doesn’t mean you’re alone.

Pessl approaches this novel like a film -- with a filmmaker's attention to the set, the lighting, the camera angles -- creating the perfect mise en scène for a film-like experience with this gothic psychological thriller. The story borrows elements from iconic directors we are all familiar with (Hitchcock, Lynch, Kubrick, Polanski), but Pessl has used those influences intentionally and well, and combined them with the novelty of the multimedia PDF. The photos, news clippings, movie posters, etc. give an odd sense of surrealism to the reading experience. Even the cover of the book pays a kind of tribute to an older classic thriller, Don't Look Now with its red-coated dopplegänger.

Having read this a while a go and coming back and re-writing a review (after a problem with my first), the impact of the PDF seems evident. You are immediately immersed and you won't want to put the book down. Being involved in the story is consuming; the *props* of the pictures, obituaries, articles etc. suck you in and keep you gripped in a very atmospheric experience. With some separation, I still feel this was a spooky fun story well worth the time, but not the blockbuster I'd hoped for. As an experience, just like a good carnival ride, you feel like you'd like it to go on and on, but as a book you'd pull off the shelf and sit down to read -- it makes a few too many laps that didn't add anything (other than a little more time on the coaster). Still it was one of the most fun reads I've had in a while, and I have to give Pessl an extra star for a great effort, and her attention to detail.

With all of the devil worship, witch craft, on and on...I thought the most *terrifying* aspect of this book was in one of the many little possibilities that Pessl slips in...sometimes the events we have to face in reality make the most terrifying and horrible nightmares pale in comparison. The accompanying media is crafted very well (the PDF comes with the purchase and is easily accessible) and adds a fun dimension to a well written book.

Okay, I'll skip the synopsis as other reviewers have done a terrific job with the summaries. However this quote from the book best summarizes the experience of reading/listening to this book I think, “Just when you think you've hit rock bottom, you realize you're standing on another trapdoor.” ― Marisha Pessl, Night FilmM. Pessl gives the reader/listener quite a roller-coaster ride in this story. The supporting documentation makes the fantasy come alive in such a unique cool way. From the beginning the listener/reader becomes invested in the characters. It's nearly impossible for a writer to keep the reader/listener intensely interested and truly engaged in such a long book (listening for 23 hours and 9 minutes) but Pessl does that, expertly. In fact at the end I wanted to begin the book again, start over with what I learned with a new perspective. (I'm making myself wait a while)However I'm not sure what to listen to next really, what kind of book can follow an experience like this?The narrator is also terrific, truly a professional who captures the pace, story and accents with precision.

I’m reading the negative reviews wondering how anyone could not have enjoyed this book, and I see a theme here. It seems that those who didn’t like the book were looking for a straightforward, linear genre novel. That’s not what this is, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you should do as one reviewer suggested and go for the latest Lee Child or Robert Crais.

Night Film is a psychological drama with “mystery” and “thriller” elements. There is a mystery and there are thrills (I found myself gasping out loud at some of the events), but from start to end this story is no simple mystery. It is as intricate and fine as a well-crafted puzzle box. And consider that of the two contrasting characters one is a reporter who’s job is to find the truth, the other is a film director who’s job is to create fiction, and you can imagine the labyrinthine rabbit hole the director leads the reporter down. It’s dark and deceptive. Our rational hero must question everything he sees and experiences – was that real or was that the Primrose Path he’s expected to follow? And even the object he seeks, The Truth, must also be questioned.

One reviewer said that at the end of the book she wanted to start it all over again armed with a new perspective. I felt the same way! And I imagine that like a good puzzle box this story doesn’t have one way in but many, and those entry points can only be found after subsequent readings.

I love these long, chewy novels you can really sink your teeth into. Let Jake Weber’s narration wrap around you like a warm blanket and snuggle in for an amazing ride.

I am in the minority here, as I do not fully agree with most of the other reviewers. Although this book starts well, and Pessl's writing is very good, I found "Night Film" to be something of a slog. It's just too long - why can't she and many other talented young writers (I'm talking to you, Tana French) learn the value of listening to a good, exacting editor?

I liked the premise, and the characters are quirky and compelling, but so much of this book is just going in circles. It adds up to much ado about not much. Sorry, but I think I'll skip the next one.

Wonderful read with intriguing mysteries. I made myself wait to listen so this book would last longer or I would have listened to it start to finish. I would not change a thing about this book, it leaves you thinking, wondering about the characters, and the narration is fabulous, great character voices and accents.

On the down side, Pessi breaks out in rashes of over-writing… She also suffers in one scene from I-Need-An-Editor flu. But… but… Hollywood tells us that there are only what, 8 different stories? Well, I have no idea into which I'd drop this imagination explosion… These characters are so magnetic… I cared about them. Enough that the torrent of what at first seemed like epilogues pulled me into an entirely different experience. Yep, kept expecting an ending but…

Let's step out of the review here and talk about something unique to audio books. Unlike a hardbound on your lap, you're never spontaneously aware of how much more is to come. That's a good thing if you want the author to own surprise. Sooo back to the review.

Chapters began to end the story… then abruptly Jake Webber announced another… and another and… And it works. I'm convinced that Pessi's brilliance blended with Weber's talent will forgive almost everything.

Steven King once wrote like this, but he'd depend upon the gross-out to snap him away from trouble. Pessi keeps portending, but she has another solution. Not to worry, no spoiler alert here… Just another satisfaction with her startlingly complex talent.

I hope that next time Pessi will sand down some histrionics, and maybe disobey the rules and tell us rather than show every detail. Won't matter though… I'll preorder whatever she does next. Pessi's a resonant new psychological thrill pilot.

Night Film exceeded all of my expectations. I had heard a bunch of hype about this book and that alone has generally been cause for a big inevitable let down when the book that has been defined as the next "Gone Girl" or "Harry Potter" only garners a big "Meh" once I finish the book and move on to the next.

Night Film, however, held my attention throughout. From the first creepy appearance of Ashley Cordova I was hooked. Tensions steadily build from page one until you start to get the feeling that something horrible could happen at any moment.

Night Film is one of those books that I really didn't want to come to an end.